Crist to call special session to ban offshore oil drilling

May 12, 2010|By Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist is pushing reluctant lawmakers to return to work as soon as the week of May 24 to take up a constitutional ban on oil drilling in state waters, a move steeped in election-year implications.

A special session, in the wake of the BP oil spill that could threaten Florida's coast, would include a permanent ban on drilling in state waters -- which run 3 to 10 miles from shore -- and potentially legislation to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

"I think it's important that we go ahead and have a special session," Crist told reporters Tuesday, adding, "I'm encouraged that the Legislature is of a mind to do so as well."

The governor has been hinting that he supported a call from minority-party Democrats and state CFO Alex Sink last week to put a ballot question before voters.

But Tuesday's comments were a declaration -- and drew immediate push-back from House Republicans, who until a few weeks ago were laying the ground work to expand oil drilling into Florida waters, not ban it.

House Speaker Larry Cretul -- who blasted Crist three weeks ago and endorsed U.S. Senate rival Marco Rubio after the governor vetoed a teacher-tenure bill -- called the governor's push "a political ploy to promote the future of politicians," since state and federal laws already ban Florida oil-drilling. Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, also termed a special session "a needless expense."

A constitutional amendment would need a three-fifths vote in each chamber to make it on the Nov. 2 ballot. But that might not be heavy-lifting, considering the shift in public opinion since the oil spill.

A Mason-Dixon poll for the Orlando Sentinel and other media companies last week found 55 percent of likely voters now opposed near-shore oil drilling, a reversal from when 55 percent supported drilling in June 2009.

An angry state Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, said that Crist will use the session to advance his Senate campaign, whatever happens.

"Either way, he wins," Baker said. "This is cold political calculation on his part. If we do nothing, he bashes us. If we give in, he can claim to be the gallant leader protecting Floridians."

And clearly, some are finding the political calculus daunting.

At Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Attorney General Bill McCollum, who has long voiced opposition to drilling within 10 miles of Florida beaches, hedged.

"I don't think it may be necessary in terms of where we are today because everybody is opposed to it. But if we do draft it, we do do it, it needs to be very carefully worded," McCollum said.

McCollum explained he was worried a ban might preclude companies from using future technology advances to, for instance, use land-based rigs to drill for undersea natural gas.

But Sink, who is running against McCollum for governor, dismissed those concerns.

"If in some future year somebody proves that things have changed, voters can go back and repeal the amendment. That's an easy answer," Sink said.

Crist's U.S. Senate rival, Marco Rubio, has also opposed a drilling ban.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, a North Palm Beach Republican running for chief financial officer, said he was willing to call lawmakers back if the plan also involved passing energy legislation that could lead to utilities using more wind, solar or nuclear power.

Meanwhile, as the Deepwater Horizon disaster site continues to spew oil into the Gulf, Cabinet members were told Tuesday that the growing sea of crude was expected to keep tracking west for now -- away from Florida.

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole said the oil slick was 129 miles from Pensacola Tuesday and 340 miles from St. Petersburg. Perhaps equally important, the oil isn't within 100 miles of the much-discussed "loop current" that has the potential to transport the slick through the Florida Keys.

Still, Sole's briefing suggested that some oil eventually will wash up on beaches. "We'll see sheen, and probably tar balls and some weathered oil," Sole said, describing the latter as having "a consistency of chocolate mousse."

Crist issued an executive order Tuesday creating a task force, headed by former state attorneys general Jim Smith and Bob Butterworth, to review when and whether the state should file a lawsuit against BP for damages.

Aaron Deslatte can be reached at 850-222-5564, or at adeslatte@orlandosentinel.com.